In view of the problem of low mechanization of garlic bolts harvesting in China, a garlic bolt picking machine was designed based on the traditional manual picking principle, which completed the process of scratching the stem of garlic plants and clipping the garlic bolt from the bottom through the scratch of stem and clip garlic bolt device, and completed the process of pulling out and transporting garlic bolt through the garlic bolt extraction device. According to the physical characteristic parameters of garlic bolt and garlic plant, the structure design of key components was carried out. Through theoretical analysis, the relationship between the forward speed of the machine and the speed of key components was determined. ANSYS simulation analysis of the garlic bolt clamping process of silicone rubber sheet was carried out to determine the garlic bolt clamping gap of 2mm. Needle chain gap, drum speed and gripper closure start angle were selected as the test factors, successful garlic bolt pulling rate, garlic bolt pulling damage rate and leaf retention rate were selected as the test indexes, the ternary quadratic orthogonal rotation combined test was carried out. The results showed that when the needle chain gap was 3.92mm, the drum speed was 48.32r/min and the gripper closure starting angle was 78.53°, the successful garlic bolt pulling rate, garlic bolt pulling damage rate and leaf retention rate were 89.10%, 20.55% and 77.34%, respectively.